Childhood (2)

While Celestial Tribe's little prince was hidden from the world within the confines of a gold-gilded cage, another child lived as free as a bird in one of the most dangerous places of the three realms.

"Yin Xue! Where are you?!"

Bai Rong was out of breath from searching for the mischievous girl she was raising. To top things off, this wasn't the first time Yin Xue ran off on her own. Although she always found her way back home, Bai Rong never stopped worrying that something bad would happen to the little girl in The White Forest.

When Bai Rong went somewhere else to find Yin Xue, a pair of silver eyes darted left and right sneakily before moving. A black snout followed by a snow white head and body emerged from the bush right next to the spot she was standing at earlier. Nine fluffy tails swept away the leaves on the tiny fox's body and it proudly sauntered in the opposite direction Bai Rong went, nose in the air. 

The fox walked down a familiar path and suddenly stopped in its tracks, its ears perking up from a sound in the distance. It changed course to where the shouting sounded like it was coming from. The fox was greeted by an amusing sight when it found the people destroying the tranquility of the afternoon. Five strong cultivators were engaged in a fight while trying to catch a flying cylindrical object. When the fox squinted, it could see that it was a flute with a small tassel attached to its end.

The object dodged the many attempts made to catch it while the cultivators argued amongst themselves.

"Elder Xi, you have already amassed so many treasures throughout your life. Leave this one for us!"

"Young man, haven't you heard the saying elderlies first?"

"Be first to what? To step into the coffin?"

"Disrespectful brats! This Purple Dream Flute is definitely mine!"

"In your dreams!"

The fox watching the show from the ground couldn't contain its snicker and the man called Elder Xi pointed at it while shouting at the other people, "You see, even a wild fox is laughing at us! This won't do, I must catch this flute or I will lose my dignity as the head of Xi Family to an animal!"

He rushed towards the flute and stretched his hands to grab ahold of it, but the flute flew out of his way and he ended up crashing into a tree. The tassel attached to the flute even wagged like a tail! If the flute had a face, it was definitely looking smug. 

The others tried and failed to catch the flying flute, and by the time half a shichen[1] had passed, everyone was in a frustrated, disheveled and embarrassed state. Why?

Because a certain little fox had watched them being outsmarted and outraced by a non living object for the whole time. That fox had even laughed when they crashed into one another like headless chickens! Five people who were considered strong experts of martial arts and cultivation in their respective realms came down to Mortal Realm to catch an extremely rare divine artifact and failed! It was so mortifying that they were all thankful their only audience was just a fox, although having no audience was better.

One of them panted, "Hey guys, when we go back to our realms, let's just say the flute vanished? This is too humiliating."

"Agreed!" Elder Xi shouted. "This grandpa has never met such a stubborn divine artifact in my whole life! Everyone, when we leave this place, this will be a secret between us five. I will chop up whoever lets the cat out of the bag!"

"Should we get rid of the fox?"

Said fox who had become the target of focus whimpered and put on its most pitiful and innocent act to preserve its own life.

'Nothing to see here. Just a tiny cotton ball. Look away, don't kill me.'

At that moment, the Purple Dream Flute swooped down and tapped the fox on its head playfully. The five cultivators immediately snapped to focus, two of them looking at the fox with surprise while the other three revealed expressions of obvious dissatisfaction.

The Purple Dream Flute and the little fox were oblivious, though, as they started chasing each other in circles. In the end, the fox disappeared in a puff of white smoke, and in its place was a laughing girl who looked about six years old. 

'It turns out that it was no ordinary fox...' Elder Xi grumbled inwardly. 'I wonder if she will babble this incident. I'll truly lose face this time if she does.' 

Meanwhile, the flute had caught up to the little girl and hovered in front of her before letting her hold it, remaining immobile from then onwards.

All the people present were shocked, and their facial expressions greatly changed. Among them was a young man whose face was obscured by a wide, black hat, and a myriad of emotions flashed through his eyes when he saw the girl playing with the flute in her hands: indignation and greed.

Faster than anyone could react, he dashed towards the little girl, his figure a blur and his sword a silver glint. "This flute will be mine!"

***

[1]One shichen= 2 hours. Half a shichen= 1 hour.